Hey Buddies! How’s your day?

So if you happen to run into our not quite two-year old daughter, Sophia, this is something she will probably say: “Hey buddies! How’s your day?”  We’re not sure where she gets this from, but we think it’s awesome.

I just picked up Sophia from preschool and as we are driving home, she asks me: “How’s your day?”  I turn off the radio and say, “My day was good.  I spent a lot of time working on the computer.  How was your day? What did you do?”  She says to me, “Colored. Poo-poo potty.”

Backtrack:

Last week was spring break for her school (she goes 5 hours a day twice a week) and one of the last free weeks I had on the calendar for a while, so I decided it was time to potty train.  I found a method I felt good about: 3 Day Potty Training, by Laura Jensen. And on Monday, we began.  We quit diapers cold turkey.  She had 14 accidents on Monday, 10 on Tuesday, and 8 on Wednesday.  Those were a yucky couple of days.  There wasn’t a whole lot of successes.  By day three she was not potty trained.  I was frustrated, discouraged, and covered in pee.  But I had planned on sticking with it all week.  If there was absolutely no progress by Saturday I was going to go buy some pull-ups and just work on that for the next few months.  One of the great things about Laura Jensen’s plan is that she offers mentoring along with the e-book.  After a hell of a first day, I took advantage of this daily. Her help was so amazing.  All sorts of problems arose and everyday was a new challenge and she gave me the advice I needed to handle each one appropriately and effectively.  On Thursday things started to click and we gradually got down to 1-3 accidents a day.  I was worried all day about how it was going with her training at school.  I packed 2 backup pairs of clothes for the teachers and asked them not to put a diaper on her.  I told them Sophia should tell them when she needs to go, but they may  need to remind her to tell them.  I worried.

When I get her bag, this is inside (think I may frame it):

And that brings me to this question, “mommy, how’s your day?”

Super!  I’m so proud of her!

January 2011 (in Sophia Pictures)

Just a few minutes ago, Paul and I started talking as we often do about the cool stuff Sophia did today.  She is the most chatty less than 2 year old I know of.  She loves the alphabet and gets excited when she spots a K or an H on a cereal box at the grocery store.  She loves spinning in circles and somersaults.  She is quite fond of brushing her teeth (mainly just to suck off the toothpaste).  Her favorite song is “Row, Row, Row your Boat” and she’ll suddenly start singing: “woah, woah, woah…mere, mere, mere” when she’s in the mood.  She is so awesome and special to us it’s crazy.

I don’t always get around to going through family pictures, but I took some time tonight to collect a few for my blog from last month.  And here they are:

2010: What an Awesome Year!

I have been thinking for a few days about how truly incredible 2010 was for me, my business, and my family.  I honestly have really loved every bit of it.  Then, I get this email from WordPress saying that this blog – that I started in late May – has been viewed well over 9,000 times this year.   I realize that my each of you have been able to share this last year with me.  Thank you.  Your support and comments have gone a long way.

2010 was a big year for me as a photographer.  I started my wedding photography business and I shot my first wedding this year.  It was so awesome.  I feel very much that I am doing what I was meant to do when I’m there helping document the beginning of a family.  I have to admit, I have gotten a little choked up at every wedding.  They are so beautiful, and even if I haven’t known the couple for very long, we are good friends and I understand them and what their day means.  I’m so happy for them.

Here’s some favorites from Lindsay and Will’s beautiful and sweet outdoor wedding:

You can see more of Lindsay an Will’s wedding here and here.

On what was definitely the hottest day in June, and quite possibly the hottest day in 2010, it was a joy to see two people who had been together for so long  - both with sweet boys of their own, get married.  So much love in the room, and the boys were in tears they were so happy!  Here’s a post and a photo:

I love it how weddings fit the couple and Cassie and Jeremiah really nailed it!  It was an absolute pleasure to be their wedding photographer.

Click here or here to read more about this adorable couple.

I got to leave snowy Saint Louis for a gorgeous Hawaii wedding last month.  Brittany and TJ were super cool to work with and naturals together in front of the camera, check out some of their magic:

There is still more to come from theses guys (hopefully a post by midnight today-fingers crossed), so stay tuned, but you can also check this out.

2010 was a great year to get engaged!  Engagement sessions are so fun!  I know this is getting to be a long post, so if you have time, and want to see all the great couples, click the engagement category to the right.  Here, however are a few of my favorite shots:

I am beyond excited for each of your weddings this year!  I love getting to know the couples during the engagements session.  I wish each of you the best, and can’t wait!!!

 

2010 was also a very good year for my family.  Paul got a promotion, to manage and open a bigger movie theater in the Saint Louis area, you can read about that here.  We love our new house and the neighborhood.  Paul, Sophia, and I are quite the happy family.  I love being a mother and together we adore our daughter, Sophia.  Here’s a picture of her taken in February, 2010:

She was 10 months, relatively bald, and still crawling to get around.  And here’s a picture of her in November, at 19 months:

She’s a toddler now, and a super big talker. It has been so awesome watching her learn and grow.  If you want to see more of our little gal, there are plenty of places to read; here, here here here here or here.

In conclusion, 2010 was a wonderful year.  However, I am equally optimistic about 2011 and I can’t wait to share the great things that will be happening with my business and my family this year with you.  Thank you once again for your kindness and support.

Until next time,

Jillian

Farnsworth Christmas

Christmas morning was the most fun ever this year, thanks to Sophia.  It’s great to be a parent on Christmas.  She was thrilled about the whole process, the unwrapping and the toys.

Sophia loves Abby and Elmo and she got both for Christmas, here’s a shot of her right after pulling Abby Cadabby out of her stocking:

Her favorite thing to play with all day was the shopping cart she got from Aunt Nina, she put as many toys as she could fit in it and pushed it around the house saying “go go go!”

She’s also a big fan of “Choo Choo’s”.  We had a special surprise for her, Thomas around the tree!

Sophia got so many great things this year from so many people who love her, she loved it all!  Thanks to grandparents, great grandparents, aunts and uncles!

2010 Thanksgiving

I know we just had Christmas, and my goal is to post some pictures from that here by the end of the day, but I have several things I wanted to share today including some shots from the Farnsworth family Thanksgiving.   We actually spent the day over at the Martins, Paul’s sis who also lives in Saint Louis.  Here is the fab spread:

Paul and Andrew up to no good:

Pretty much all I saw of 12 yr old Jack was him watching football:

Ally could “shimmy up the walls” (as my grandma would say) like a maniac, seriously, look how high!:

Jim and Andrew, all sorts of crazy:

Everyone super stuffed:

Nana and Papa:

And here’s Sophia, a proud participant of the Thanksgiving feast:

It was a great time, great food, and great company!

Sophia’s New Room

So last week we finally started working on Sophia’s room!  It was the only room that was white in the brightly colored new house we have (even the laundry room is painted).  I was so anxious to get working on this and am really pleased with the results…

Here’s the before picture I almost forgot to take:

And this is the adorable after:

Paul did all the painting and I helped by taping the stripes!  We finished arranging the furniture and hanging pictures tonight.  Not bad for one week – eh?

Here’s some pictures that Paul took after Sophia’s bath tonight:

She loves it!

I love FALL!

I think I forgot how wonderful this time of year is.  Or maybe the last few falls have been terribly hot or cold and disappointing.  But this year I have really been reminded that autumn absolutely rocks.  It has been a great month.  Sophia and I have enjoyed the leaves.  She gets a kick out of shuffling around and crunching them or scooting through a recently raked pile.  Here are some of my favorite fall fun photos from this month:

Favorite Things {special edition}

This edition of Favorite Things is dedicated to our daughter, Sophia, and I’ll tell you why.

With Halloween approaching, I have been trying to find the perfect costume for our little Sopha Cushion.  I almost purchased a fairy costume when my husband, Paul, accused me of picking something that I wanted to be when I was a kid.  He was right.  In fact, I was a fairy for Halloween for 3 years in a row.  He said he wanted to her to be a Super Hero, and I quickly accused him of the same thing – he still wants to dress up like a super hero, and not just for Halloween!  So this got us to thinking… what would Sophia want to be for Halloween?  Since she is too young this year to tell us, we started listing out her favorite things.  While this list isn’t really a great possibility for costumes, we thought it would be o-so-appropriate blog material!

Here goes…

1.  MUFFINS

I love the boxes of FiberOne muffin mix.  They are really yummy, and much healthier than your average muffin!  Sophia gobbles them up!

 

2.  SWINGING

We just got this hooked up to our deck a month ago, she’s crazy about it!

 

3.  BABY EINSTEIN

Here she is watching with Daddy.  She loves watching Baby Bach over and over! (sorry Paul about this picture, he’s obviously on the verge of falling asleep!)

 

4.  KRANG

Krang is a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles super villain straight from Paul’s collection.  It really shows how much he loves Sophia for him to let her play with these guys.  He has about 50 action figures but she goes for this guy every time.  Probably because she likes to remove his brain.

I don’t think any of these translate well into costumes, but it’s fun anyway.  What do you think she should be for Halloween?

 

 

The fifth favorite thing this week comes from Annalise.  She said one of her favorite things was:

5.  Morning Dew

And she took this beautiful picture….

Thanks Annalise!

What is one of your favorite things?  Leave a comment and I may mention it next time!

Wildwood 10

The new B&B Theatres Wildwood 10 with Marquee suits opened on Friday!  There is a great article about it on ReviewSTL.  I’m writing about it because this is the theater my husband is now managing, and the reason we moved up to Wildwood.  It is really beautiful and will undoubtedly make for an excellent movie experience.  I took a few pictures from the gala mentioned in the article on Thursday night (the night before opening) that I wanted to share.

Every guest got the VIP treatment!  They got to walk in on the red carpet, while the new employee’s cheered for them and asked for autographs.

Complementary popcorn (and other goodies) were served:

It was a great party!  Fun for everyone!

Here’s Paul and the operations manager, Jeff, looking good in their new tuxes!

This is where the magic happens in this new state-of-the-art all digital theater:

The owner of B&B, Bob Bagby, welcomes everyone and tells guest about the exciting features this new theater has to offer.

The film cutting!

Guest enjoyed watching previews on the 56ft Grand screen!

So, if you are in the area, come check out this awesome new theater!

This crazy kid!

Our daughter is 16 months now.  She is one energetic baby!  Sophia is always running around and making it really hard to unpack or clean or work, but I am so in love with her.  She makes me so happy!